Bolthouse Farms, a business that grows and sells carrots and makes dressings and beverages, announced recently that it’s implementing a new non-disclosure agreement policy to protect its employees, reports Michele Simon, former founder and executive director of the Plant Based Foods Association, in an article contributed to Forbes.
NDAs have historically been misused by businesses to silence employees, particularly women, from speaking out about issues like sexual harassment and discrimination, according to Simon. Over the last few years, many U.S. states have enacted laws requiring employers to lessen restrictions on an employee’s ability to speak out about abuses at work.
Bolthouse Farms becomes the first food company to take a public stand on this issue, announcing an updated NDA policy modeled on a Washington State law that took effect last June. It is considered to be the strongest in the U.S. While the company has seasonal operations in Washington state, most of its operations are in California. Instead of having a state-by-state policy, the company decided to apply the strongest policy across the board.
“It was important that we ensured uniform and maximum protection for all our 3,000 employees, be it an agricultural employee in California or an operations manager in Washington,” said Iveth Adriana Plascencia, the company’s labor and employment counsel. "We feel it is the right thing to do. While California law has also restricted the use of NDAs, we decided to adopt Washington State’s stronger policy, to ensure uniform and maximum protection for all our employees, regardless of where they are based.”
The NDA change specifically relates to any illegal acts or other wrongdoing by the company, trade secrets, and intellectual property are still protected.
“If there are problems our employees are facing, we want to know about it and address the issue. We don’t want to silence our people, whether they work in the fields, in the plant, or in our offices,” said Rachel Serrano, the company’s SVP of people, culture, and capabilities. Full Story
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